Galvanized looking lead

[tomme boy]

I have been melting down jacketed bullets to get the lead out of them. These are ALL jacketed. Most are 40cal. bullets. I separated out the open base ones first to make the melting easy for right now. Everyone told me to treat these as pure lead. I have seen it numerous times mentioned also. Now here is the thing. I pour the lead into the stainless steel condiment cups from WalMart. The lead on the surface looks like steel sheet metal that is galvanized. What is this? Is it antinomy? Something has to be in it as I also melted down a bunch of lead pipe and joints. They come out nice and shiney.

I have close to 300 lbs of this lead and I have close to 300 lbs of sorted COWW that needs to be melted. I want to mix these 50/50 but if the ones that have the galvanized look to them have a lot of antimony in it it will throw out the balance I would like to have. Anyone???

[MaryB]

Antimony crystals? I saw that on some alloy that is high in antimony

[billyb]

I have read that most jacketed core lead has an antimony content of 1/2 of 1%. Click on the lasc link . Bill

[btroj]

Those cores are not pure lead. They could be as much as 1 to 2 percent antimony. Adding them to wheel weights won't make much difference to either metal.

Jacketed bullet cores vary in hardness based upon the cartridges they are designed for. A 454 bullet has a harder core then a 45 Colt bullet.

[cbrick]

Some jacketed bullets could possibly be as high as 5% such as Sierra big bore handgun bullets. 1-2% would be more common but the only commercial bullets that I know are pure lead or close to it is 22 rimfire.

Not much doubt what your seeing is the Sb, it is perfectly good alloy unless it's for a front stuffer.

Rick

[jsizemore]

Even Eley uses .3% Sb in their boolits. Is swagged lead still considered "boolits"?

[mold maker]

Sounds as though there are a lot of LEO (40 cal) bullets. These may or may not be the same as commercial. If it's a large LEO dept they may order specialized ammo. What I've melted in the past was between 11 and 13 hardness. It works well with all except Mag/HVL handgun loads. You might need to add 1-2 % tin to get easiest fill out.
The galvanized look may simply be lead oxide forming on the surface before it cools. Keep your melt temp as low as possible and it may disappear. It's hard to visualize exactly what you're describing.

[MarkP]

Spangle --

You can see it first hand; washer fluid on a very cold windshield.

[tomme boy]

This stuff is really soft. That is what is throwing me off. I melted down a bunch of shotgun slugs a while back and the lead looks the same. Yes it looks like a large crystal structure. But it is smooth. Here is a picture. Lead pipe on the left and the 40cal. bullets on the right.

94958

[jsizemore]

It looks like my range scrap.

[AlaskanGuy]

Same as my scrap from the range... I like it... Flux and shoot is what I say...

[bangerjim]

If your are really concerned (which you really should not be), take one to a scrap yard that has an X-ray gun. Tell them you may have a bunch to sell (to them) and you really need to know what is in it. My yards will do it for free. Only takes about 15 seconds.

That is the ONLY way to ease your mind on the true content.

Check it out.

bangerjim ( an olde ex-Iowa boy!)

[tomme boy]

I wish they had one around here. But they dont. I guess I will just treat it as pure.

[lwknight]

Those large crystals that look like galvanized steel are antimony but in very low percentages.
Treat it like pure lead.

[Whiterabbit]

happens to me. I can make several guesses as to what it is, but I would likely be wrong.

What I DO know is that it is related to melt temp and mold temp. The "galvanized look" is what happens between "casting on the cooler size" and "my bullets are frosting". right in between.

Bottom line is what you've heard already. melt, flux, and cast. And Enjoy. :)

[cbrick]

Those large crystals that look like galvanized steel are antimony but in very low percentages. Treat it like pure lead.

Interesting. How do we know it's "very low percentages" of antimony?

It "probably" is antimony, at least possibly but I sure wouldn't look at a photograph and then state it's percentage of antimony or anything else.

Rick

[lwknight]

Interesting. How do we know it's "very low percentages" of antimony?

It "probably" is antimony, at least possibly but I sure wouldn't look at a photograph and then state it's percentage of antimony or anything else.

Rick

There could be some weird case where the statement is not true. but you can pretty much bet on it and you know that.

In fact, I make the challenge to find a case that does not fit the bill and share your findings with us. And if you do succeed, I will always include what you taught me in any future statements of similar nature

[williamwaco]

I am not metallurgy inclined but I do math.

Antimony is almost 15 dollars per pound.
These are jacketed commercial bullets.
There is no need for a hard core.
Lead cost one tenth what antimony does.
There is a great need to make a profit.
There is probably a smidgin of antimony but not a lot.


.

[bhn22]

Any swaged lead product is likely to have a few percent of antimony, even products like lead pipe. Bill Ferguson once told me that antimony is added to lead alloys that are intended for swaging because it makes the lead swage more consistently.

As far as the OP goes, I've seen the similar things occur with salvaged lead, and I shrugged it off to being caused by the rate at which the alloy freezes in the mold. Early in the pours, I'd see this sort of thing, but it wouldn't be evident after the ingot mold got hot. I can't really see anything in your pics. Too much glare. I'm sure you're in good shape, this is just one of those salvaged lead adventures, like blue and gold skin on some batches of lead.

[btroj]

I am not metallurgy inclined but I do math.

Antimony is almost 15 dollars per pound.
These are jacketed commercial bullets.
There is no need for a hard core.
Lead cost one tenth what antimony does.
There is a great need to make a profit.
There is probably a smidgin of antimony but not a lot.


.

A bullet designed for a magnum cartridge needs the antimony to help prevent excessive expansion.
Like bhn22 said it also can help the core swage better.

Small amounts of Sb don't add huge amounts to the cost yet improve the product dramatically.

[tomme boy]

Same lead but a pic for a different post. Not the best pic but it still shows what I am talking about. It you know what galvanized sheet metal looks like, you know what I am talking about. Most of my high antimony lead is a dull grey. almost what everyone would say is a frosted boolit. This stuff is still shiny like pure lead, but has a crystal grain structure to the surface.

95182

[lwknight]

The stuff in the pot looks pretty normal for anything that is not exactly pure lead.

[lwknight]

The stuff in the pot looks pretty normal for anything that is not exactly pure lead. You did say that it was really soft so maybe you got a bit of tin in it as well to help the little bit of antimony not look slushy.
Anyway , you can treat it like pure lead if its soft.

[cbrick]

There could be some weird case where the statement is not true. but you can pretty much bet on it and you know that.

No, I don't know that. There is no way to look at a photograph of a piece of lead and state the percentage of anything in it.

Rick

[cbrick]

I am not metallurgy inclined but I do math.

Antimony is almost 15 dollars per pound.
These are jacketed commercial bullets.
There is no need for a hard core.
Lead cost one tenth what antimony does.
There is a great need to make a profit.
There is probably a smidgin of antimony but not a lot.

Not always true, some commercial jacketed bullets have pretty high Sb, Sierra for example has up to 5% Sb in "some of their big bore handgun bullets such as those designed for the 454 and others.

Rick

[MaryB]

I just moved most of my lead stash to near my reloading bench where I will be doing casting only(smelting will still get done outdoors) and the pure lead ingots I have that were made from sheet lead from an Xray room wall had that crystaline look.